Closure of Field-Aligned Currents in the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet

Details Closure of Field-Aligned Currents in the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet Closure of Field-Aligned Currents in the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm24a..02p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM24A-02

Physics

2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2721 Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems (2409), 2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2744 Magnetotail, 2764 Plasma Sheet

Scientific paper

It has long been realized that the magnetosphere and ionosphere are intimately coupled by field-aligned-currents (FACs). While the role of the ionosphere in generating and closing these FACs is relatively well understood, little quantitative understanding exists as to how the magnetosphere's collisionless plasma adjusts to either generate FAC by diverting cross-field current or close FACs across the magnetic field. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell plasma kinetic simulations are used to investigate how the plasma sheet stress and electromagnetic fields respond to isolated flux tubes carrying downward or upward FACs. The downward FAC is created by injecting an electron beam at the inner boundary; the upward FAC is created by extracting and not replacing the electrons that precipitate at this boundary. The plasma sheet is driven by the imposition of an external convection electric field. The two FAC flux tubes create regions of electrostatic potential with opposite polarities in the plasma sheet. Initial results show that the downward current can divert cross-tail current over a significant radial distance in the plasma sheet. The self-generated magnetic field creates a shear in the equatorial magnetic field, with a localized reduction in the field extending in toward the inner boundary. This eventually leads to a localized reversal in the B_z field well earthward of the minimum in B_z caused by the externally-driven convection. The resulting complex dynamics of the near-Earth plasma sheet will be discussed.

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